Is it wrong for a mom of two kids in school to be sitting at home, happily playing—playing!—with a book about vehicles? Seriously, I'm spending way too much time turning the wheel of a combine harvester and blasting a Russian "Soyuz" rocket launcher into space—but I can't stop. This cheerfully-illustrated, oversized book, with its sturdy flaps, popups, pull-tabs and wheels is just too much fun!

Save the museum, where "no touching" is the rule, for when your child can actually follow one. Instead, cozy up with this board book, a sculpture itself with stepped layers that joyfully trace the year's cycle… and encourage touching.

Talk about the perfect carry-along, this book actually sports a handle! It's like a toddler's briefcase, filled with all the important work of being two. Divided into well-organized tabbed sections, this "file folder" is even more than it promises. Yes, its images are labeled, but its charming rabbit siblings, Jojo and Lulu, are also animated: they emote; they celebrate; they dine, play… and sit on a potty.

Also by Xavier Deneux and Chronicle, Colors and Opposites will excite young minds (and fingers!) with their simple raised and scooped-out mirror images. My kids are saving these exquisite board books for their children.

Behold, the powerful toddler. Now watch (watch!) as she turns a hot-air balloon into a rabbit, a rocket into a penguin, a flower into a lion, with just a few simple flap turns. Your little one will love this book—and all the attention it will earn her.